Chapter 39
Selly approached with an intrigued look while washing vegetables.
“Boni, are we having a cooking competition with this person?”
“No. Just peeling potatoes.”
“Oh, alright then.”
The man readily agreed. He picked up a small knife and a potato in his thick hands and began peeling it. Really thinly and delicately.
“Hmm… Boni, I think you lost.”
“I think so too. Complete defeat at the hands of Miss Chegou.”
The man separated the peel from the potato perfectly without wasting anything, then shrugged his shoulders.
“This is easy soup-level work.”
He’s really good… Just enough skill to give pointers.
“Are you a chef, by any chance?”
“Yes, I am. Though I’m currently unemployed…”
Ah, so that’s the hidden story. He got fired from his previous job.
Feeling a little pity for him, I watched, but the man, as if he hadn’t been down at all, perked up with life in his expression.
“So I’m confident in cooking. Now that it’s come to this, please leave dinner to me today! I want to show my skills!”
“Whoa, really?”
“Wow!”
Selly and I, excited with sparkling eyes, were in contrast to Oban, who firmly refused.
“No. You’re a guest; I cannot allow that.”
“I really want to… Please, may I?”
“Even so, I cannot let a guest cook. If you sit back, we’ll serve you the food.”
“I have the ingredients. If you just let me cook with them, I’ll make something delicious and serve it to you.”
His eyes were earnest, yet Oban firmly refused. But as the saying goes, “No tree is uncut after ten strikes.”
Faced with the man’s persistent request and his muttered comment, “I don’t want to eat something bad,” Oban finally raised his hands in surrender.
“Alright. Go ahead and try it.”
“Thank you! But… um…”
The man hugged the box tightly to his chest and hesitated.
“Can I cook alone? I don’t want to reveal the ingredients. I promise there’s nothing suspicious! I swear by God!”
“That’s not allowed. If you insist on hiding ingredients, then I’ll just cook myself.”
Oban was right. How could anyone trust a stranger’s cooking without knowing the ingredients?
‘Who knows what’s inside.’
Seeing Selly and me nod vigorously in agreement, the man proposed with a frown:
“How about this? The manager stays, and you two wait outside for a while. With the manager watching, you’ll feel safe, won’t you?”
What’s he hiding in there? ‘Is it some disgusting ingredient?’
“Really, nothing suspicious. Nothing inedible! Please trust me!”
Oban organized the situation. Although skeptical, he thought it would be okay with the manager watching. Plus, it was late, and our stomachs were growling, so we were eager to eat something, anything.
“I’m fine with it. Boni, how about you?”
Selly seemed to think the same and asked, clutching her stomach.
“I’m good. We’ll wait outside. Call us when the cooking’s done.”
“Yes, yes! Please trust me! It will be really delicious!”
We sat side by side on the small sofa in the lobby, quietly waiting.
How long had it been? My stomach was on the verge of swallowing itself! The man finally called us.
“Please try it.”
He seemed so confident that I was curious about what the dish would be. When it arrived, it was a thick soup with beaten eggs. Floating inside were pieces of crab meat.
“Crab meat?”
Clatter!
“Whoa! How did you know?”
I asked casually, but the man was so surprised he almost dropped the spoon.
“Do you know what this is?”
“Miss Chegou, have you tried this before?”
Even if Selly, who lost her memory, couldn’t know, Oban looked surprised as well. I felt awkward.
‘Do they not eat crab here?’
Apparently not. I regretted showing off that I knew.
“…I haven’t eaten it, just… seen it by chance. Really just by chance.”
“I see. I’ve never seen a crab either. The smell is really nice.”
Oban murmured as he stirred the soup. The crab must have been a very unusual ingredient in this world because both Oban and Selly hesitated to take a spoonful.
‘Then I guess I’ll go first.’
I proudly took a big spoonful.
“Wow… no, wow! This is seriously delicious!”
I wasn’t exaggerating; the taste was genuinely stunning. The eggs and crab meat melted softly in my mouth, enhancing the rich umami, sliding down my throat perfectly.
‘This is the best food I’ve had since coming here!’
I nearly finished the bowl and asked eagerly,
“I’ve never tasted such a soup before. How do you create such depth from simple ingredients? Is there more?”
“There is! Feel free to have as much as you want!”
The man grinned from ear to ear and served another bowl.
Oban and Selly, who had been observing my reaction, also took a spoonful and immediately reacted the same way.
“Wow, amazing!”
“I thought Miss Chegou was exaggerating, but this is really delicious.”
After that, we focused solely on emptying the bowls, almost ignoring any words. Only when we had cleaned the dishes did we put down our spoons.
“This is the best soup I’ve ever had.”
Sitting beside Oban, who praised him, Selly and I gave him a thumbs-up.
“I never thought I’d hear such words,”
Perhaps overwhelmed by joy, the man, Pol, started shedding tears, even slumping over the table in sobs.
None of us knew how to comfort someone crying, so we just awkwardly looked at each other.
“Sniff… hic! Why am I crying? Sniff!”
Pol explained how he ended up at our hotel, letting out all the built-up frustrations.
“So, Pol cannot cook properly unless he uses ingredients he wants?”
Yes, the man’s name is Pol.
“Yes… sniff… I can’t cook well if forced to use ingredients I don’t like.”
Pol was a highly driven chef who could only achieve divine taste if he used ingredients he chose.
Pol had trained at famous restaurants in the capital, but because of this quirk, he kept getting fired.
“So the ingredients Pol likes are unusual ones others don’t use?”
“Yes. I enjoy discovering new flavors from new ingredients. That’s why I cook! Otherwise, I can’t cook at all.”
Unfortunately, Pol was obsessed with crab. According to Oban, crabs are considered pests in the Harrier Kingdom because they tear fishermen’s nets.
‘No wonder people reject the idea of using crab as an ingredient.’
But Pol couldn’t give up on crab and wandered around looking for a place that would accept him, finally arriving in Alcenio.
“All the hotels I applied to in Alcenio refused me. The moment I showed the crab, they treated me as crazy and kicked me out.”
“It’s so delicious though… what a shame.”
Selly patted Pol’s back.
“All my savings went to buy a magical refrigerated box to store the crab. I spent everything to come here.”
He cried that no one would hire him, and he might have to return home.
I licked my lips, still savoring the rich taste of the soup in my mouth.
“Hey, Pol! Can you make other dishes with crab meat?”
“Of course! Sniff… I’ve researched it for a long time, I can make over thirty different dishes! Sniff!”
“Then stop crying and make some right now!”
I’ll get you a job!
